Thursday, March 10, 2011

Jen Rhines Seeks Third USA 15K Crown Saturday

Jennifer Rhines, in the midst of a two-race winning streak, including her 2011 USA Half Marathon Championship title won in late January, will try Saturday to win her third USA 15K title in Jacksonville. In December, Rhines won the 2010 Rock 'n Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon and followed that win in late January by running a 1:11:14 PR to win the USA Half Marathon title over Katie McGregor, Magdalena Boulet and others. She'll try Saturday to repeat her 15K USA titles of 1998 (51:00) and 2005 (49:21). Here is the tease from USA Track and Field.

INDIANAPOLIS - Defending champions Mo Trafeh (Duarte, Calif.) and Katie McGregor (Minneapolis, Minn.) return to Jacksonville, Florida to defend their USA 15 km Crowns Saturday at the 34th annual Gate River Run. This year marks the 18th year that the event has hosted the championships.

McGregor will face a field that includes two-time 15 km champion Jen Rhines (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.), who started her 2011 USA Running Circuit campaign with a win at the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston on January 29.

Also in the hunt for the women's title will be 2004 USA 15 km Champion Colleen De Reuck (Boulder, Colo.); Nan Kennard (Boulder, Colo.), the third-place finisher at this year's half marathon championships; and Clara Grandt (Waldorf, Md.), who finished sixth in Houston.

On the men's side, Trafeh, this year's male half marathon champion, returns to Jacksonville where he dominated the field last year with a 54 second win. Looking to challenge Trafeh this year will be 2008 champion Andrew Carlson (Minneapolis, Minn.); 2008 Olympian Jorge Torres (Boulder, Colo.); 2010 USA 20 km champion Sean Quigley (Philadelphia, Pa.); 2010 USA 10 Mile champion Fasil Bizuneh (Flagstaff, Ariz.); and two-time U.S. Cross Country Team member Scott Bauhs (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.).

Video highlights:

The USA 15 km Championships will be streamed live beginning at 8:20 a.m. EST in cooperation with RunnerSpace.com at www.USARunningCircuit.com.